LA LEONA RANGER STATION

One Day Expedition From Carate

Carate makes an excellent launching point for a full-day exploration of the southern reaches of Corcovado National Park. The 2.5-kilometer beach hike separating Carate from the La Leona Ranger station is a 30-40-minute walk. Though professional guides and park staff make the entire La Leona-Sirena hike (17 km) in as little as three hours, most visitors will do best to not advance beyond Salsipuedes Point during a full day hike to make sure and leave enough energy for the hike back. Salsipuedes Point is 10.4 kilometers from the La Leona Ranger Station, 12.9 km from Carate itself, so even this is an ambitious objective.

The La Leona-Sirena trail parallels the coastline for the entire route. While the second half of the hike, closer to Sirena, has many long stretches that are hiking right along the beach, much of the trail in the La Leona region is located just inside the forest, offering welcome relief from the pounding sun and firmer terrain than that offered by dry beach sand.

While technically forming the park boundary and not actually "inside" the park, Quebrada La Leona is a great candidate for cannoning, offering a great mid-sized stream with lots of relief but no waterfalls that must be circumvented until very high in the drainage. Despite being merely a park boundary, this stream is foot-access only and is deep forest.

The best Carate launching point for single-day trips into the La Leona portion of Corcovado National Park is La Leona Lodge, which is located about 400 meters from the La Leona Ranger Station at the park boundary. The eco-lodge is a tent camp with comfortable tents on platforms overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The lodge offers great meals, cold drinks, and has solar power, an above ground swimming pool, and several kilometers of trails located in the private nature preserve behind the lodge. Other than this lodge closest to the park, Carate has the following commercial ecolodges: Lookout Inn, Luna Lodge, Finca Exotica, all of which accept advance reservations.

It is entirely reasonable to plan a self-guiding day trip from the Carate area. All the area eco-lodges can provide guide service for those guests that prefer a naturalist guide to heighten the likelihood of wildlife viewing. For those wishing to secure guiding service in advance, please fill out the questionnaire below or send me an email with relevant details.